The Navy League over the last five years has seen significantgrowth in the presence of interna-tional naval delegations at our annu-al Sea-Air-Space (SAS) Exposition.So much so that this year, we’veexpanded the branding of the tradeshow and professional developmentprogram to reflect that increasedinternational engagement — “Sea-Air-Space: The Navy League’s GlobalMaritime Exposition.”As of this writing in mid-April,SAS16 is expecting 18 delegationsand five heads of navies. The con-nections they make at SAS bothwith their U.S. Navy peers andwithin industry are invaluable to all parties because itfurthers the dialog about shared goals, common chal-lenges and possible solutions.

Adm. John M. Richardson, chief of naval operations
(CNO), in January released “A Design for Maintaining
Maritime Superiority,” which “built along four Lines
of Effort that focus on warfighting, learning faster,
strengthening our Navy team, and building partnerships.” When addressing that fourth Line of Effort
— partnerships — he refers to expanding and strengthening the Navy’s network of partners within other U.S.
services and agencies, research and development labs
and academia, commercial industry as well as international naval forces.

With joint service and interagency partners, theCNO’s design calls for enhanced integration “at all levelsof interaction to include current and future planning,concept and capability development and assessment.”He wants to “deepen the dialogue with private researchand development labs and academia” to “ensure thatour Navy labs and research centers are competitive andfully engaged with their private-sector partners.” Withindustry, he calls for increasing “the volume and rangeof interaction,” saying the Navy should “seek opportuni-ties through non-traditional partners.” And internation-ally, the CNO wants to prioritize partnerships “throughinformation sharing, interoperability initiatives, andcombined operations; explore new opportunities forcombined forward operations.”Vice Adm. Mark Norman, chiefof naval staff and commander ofthe Royal Canadian Navy, who willbe attending SAS this year, says inhis Seapower interview on page 38,“Excellence at sea is entirely depen-dent on the key partnerships — thetraditional partnerships, develop-ing new partnerships.”SAS provides opportunities forengagement at all of these levels,Because of our success at Sea-Air-Space, we havebeen able to expand our international engagementbeyond our own expo. The Navy League today orga-nizes U.S. Pavilions at naval and maritime trade showsin key overseas markets. These include Euronaval inParis in October, EXPONAVAL in Valparaiso, Chile, inNovember and NAVDEX in Abu Dhabi next February.We are excited about this growth and the opportunitiesit provides for our sea service and industry partners.These venues also provide a platform from which theNavy League can continue its mission of advocacy andeducation for and on behalf of the U.S. sea services.

The Navy League’s 240 councils worldwide include
our presence in France, Guam, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Puerto Rico, Romania,
Singapore, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These overseas councils
not only welcome visiting U.S. sea service members and
support those there, they also work with local military
and government officials, recognizing the importance of
these partnerships to our overarching mission.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The Power of Partnerships
By SKIP WITUNSKI, Navy League National President